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Two threat actors claim to sell sensitive Taiwan defense and personnel data.
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One listing includes strategic briefings; another offers,1 million police and military records.
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This follows a similar occurrence 3 years ago, when over 28 million of Taiwan’s national registration records appeared for sale on the dark web.
Two dark web sellers just posted alarming claims about Taiwan’s security. One says they have military intel. Another offers data on police and defense personnel.
These are unverified right now. But the pattern of targeting Taiwan’s government data is growing fast.
Details of the Dark Web Listings
A threat actor called Yakohomot advertised alleged Taiwan military and cybersecurity data on a dark web forum. Dark Web Intelligence spotted the listing and shared it on Tuesday, April 28.
The listing claims to include strategic intelligence briefings, infrastructure reports, and defense-related R&D documents. But here’s the catch: no one has verified any of this. Often, sellers use big claims just to attract buyers.
Just a few days earlier, another actor who goes by Admin777 advertised about 1 million records tied to Taiwan’s police and Ministry of National Defense personnel.
Admin777’s dataset supposedly has names, ID numbers, phone numbers, and job details. It may even include military-related info. Again, none of this is confirmed. The source’s credibility is low. For all we know, it could be repackaged old data.
Still, an entire population of police and defense staff turned into rows in a criminal’s database is scary. It shows how quickly people’s identity and trust can become just another product in a shady marketplace.
A Streak of Cyberattack Targeting Taiwan Government
Taiwan has seen this before. Back in 2023, a threat actor offered over 28 million national registration records for sale. They claimed to have stolen it from the Bureau of Labor Insurance. That bureau sits under the Ministry of Labor.
Researchers at Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) checked it out. The actor didn’t post any ransom demand. They just wanted to sell. And they shared 500,000 sample records to prove their claim.
Those records included NHI IDs, names, birth dates, genders, addresses, mobile numbers, resident IDs, and employment info. The data covered people in the police, military, unions, schools, banks, hospitals, and other offices. All up to 2019.
CRIL told The Cyber Express that this seller had a good reputation on the forum BreachForums. The same person had previously offered a database from the Department of Household Affairs, Taiwan Ministry of the Interior.
Geopolitical Tension Made Taiwan A Target
Taiwan’s problem with cybersecurity started back in August 2022 when Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. The proposed visit triggered a diplomatic tension. Beinjin responded imposed some economic sanctions on Taiwan sanctions, plus military drills that sent war scares across the country.
Then came the cyberattacks, a day after Pelosi’s visit was confirmed. The Taiwanese President’s website went down. So did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defence, and the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport domains. All faced DDoS attacks.
Attackers also hijacked TV broadcasts. These attacks on Taiwanese infrastructure are part of a broader trend; pro-Iran hackers have also claimed breaches of Israeli defense contractors, showing that state-aligned cyber operations are increasingly targeting military and government systems in regions of geopolitical tension around the world.
They displayed a map of China that included Taiwan. A patriotic Chinese song played in the background. Hacked digital signs at 7-Eleven stores across Taiwan read: “Warmonger Pelosi, get out of Taiwan!” A railway station sign in Kaohsiung called Pelosi “an old witch.”
What The Latest Listings Mean for You
These dark web listings may be fake because no expert has validated them, and the affected agencies haven’t reported any breach. Also, the threat actors may have pulled the datasets from old breaches.
However, the intent behind them is worth watching. Sellers keep testing the market for Taiwan’s defense and police data. Even unverified claims can create real risk. They show how geopolitical tensions fuel cybercrime. And they remind us that no one’s data is safe once it becomes a commodity.
